CollabNext

A collaborative research discovery platform that enables multi-modal search across academic publications, institutions, and researchers using data from OpenAlex and SemOpenAlex.

Table of Contents

• Local Development (Recommended)
• Legacy Manual Deployment
  • Option 1: One-Command Deployment
  • Option 2: Manual Container Deployment
• Legacy Container Local Development
  • Container-based Development
  • Legacy Local Development
• Contact Information

Local Development (Recommended)

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Local Postgres Install

Set Up Local Development

1. Clone the repository to your local machine
2. Navigate to the frontend folder, and edit REACT_APP_BASE_URL to be http://localhost:5000
3. Ensure Postgres is installed by testing the following commands:

pg_restore --version
psql --version

4. Download the smaller local Postgres database, small_openalex.sql and navigate to the same directory
5. Create the database locally

createdb -U postgres small_openalex
psql -U postgres -d small_openalex -f small_openalex.sql

6. Ensure Docker Desktop is installed and running
7. Navigate to the main directory with docker-compose.yml file
8. Spin up the containers connected to the running local database:

docker compose build
docker compose up

9. Navigate to http://localhost:3000/ to interact with the frontend.
10. Stop the containers and remove the database:

docker compose down
dropdb small_openalex 

Legacy Manual Deployment

Prerequisites

• Docker
• kubectl
• Helm 3
• A Kubernetes cluster (local: Minikube, Docker Desktop, or cloud-based)

Option 1: One-Command Deployment

Run this single command to deploy CollabNext to your Kubernetes cluster:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OKN-CollabNext/CollabNext_public/main/scripts/deploy-from-ghcr.sh | bash

This script will:

• Download the latest Helm chart
• Pull container images from GitHub Container Registry (GHCR)
• Deploy the complete application stack
• Show you how to access the application

Option 2: Manual Container Deployment

1. Download the Helm chart:

   curl -L -o collabnext-alpha.tgz https://github.com/OKN-CollabNext/CollabNext_public/releases/latest/download/collabnext-alpha-0.1.0.tgz

2. Install with Helm:

   helm install collabnext ./collabnext-alpha.tgz

3. Access the application:

   # Get service information
   kubectl get services
   
   # If using NodePort (local development):
   kubectl get nodes -o wide  # Get node IP
   kubectl get svc collabnext-frontend -o jsonpath='{.spec.ports[0].nodePort}'  # Get port
   
   # If using port-forward:
   kubectl port-forward svc/collabnext-frontend 3000:80
   # Then visit: http://localhost:3000

Container Images: All images are available at GitHub Container Registry

Legacy Container Local Development

Container-based Development

For local development with containers (recommended for consistency):

1. Start with Minikube:

   minikube start --driver=docker --memory=2048 --cpus=2

2. Deploy using local values:

   # Download and extract the Helm chart
   curl -L -o collabnext-alpha.tgz https://github.com/OKN-CollabNext/CollabNext_public/releases/latest/download/collabnext-alpha-0.1.0.tgz
   tar -xzf collabnext-alpha.tgz
   
   # Install with local development values
   helm install collabnext-local ./collabnext-alpha -f ./collabnext-alpha/values-local.yaml

3. Access the application:

   # Get the NodePort
   kubectl get svc collabnext-local-frontend
   
   # Get Minikube IP
   minikube ip
   
   # Visit: http://<minikube-ip>:<nodeport>

Legacy Local Development

Note: This is the old way of running the application without containers. The container-based approach above is recommended for new setups.

Click to expand legacy setup instructions

If you prefer to set up the environment manually without containers, follow these steps:

Quick Start Scripts (Legacy)

For Mac/Unix users:

1. Open a terminal.
2. Navigate to the project directory.
3. Run the following commands:

   chmod +x setup.sh  # Only needed the first time
   ./setup.sh

For Windows users:

1. Open Command Prompt.
2. Navigate to the project directory.
3. Run the following command:

   setup.bat

These scripts will automatically set up the backend and frontend environments and start the development servers.

Manual Setup (Legacy)

Building React.js/Flask application locally:

1. Change directory to backend

   cd backend

2. Python setup

   • Create a virtual environment:

     python3 -m venv .venv

   • Activate the virtual environment:

     source .venv/bin/activate

   • If the above command doesn't work on Windows, try:

     cd .venv\Scripts
     activate
     cd ..\..

   • Install the required packages:

     pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run Flask app locally

   • Execute the Python script containing your Flask application:

     python app.py

4. Open a new terminal and change directory to frontend

   cd frontend

5. Install React app dependencies

   • Run the following commands:

     npm install --legacy-peer-deps
     npm install @memgraph/orb

6. Create .env.local file

   • In the frontend folder, copy everything from .env.example and paste it into .env.local.

7. Run React app locally

   • Execute the start command:

     npm start

Note: If you encounter port issues on Mac, try:

• System Settings > General > AirDrop & Handoff > turn off AirPlay Receiver

Contact Information

Contact Lew Lefton ([email protected]) for any more questions about this project.

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Contributing

This is an open-source project. Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

License

See LICENSE file for details.